Memorandum in re Corpus juris
the other would go down to oblivion; but the creative work of those who through their insight found the Truth would live
87
impress every lover of his country. Of "the indubitable principles of social justice," he says :—
on and on, as does the immortal work
of those who labored here in my town a century and a quarter back in the build ing of our Constitution. 3. The publication of the American Oorpus Juris, prepared in the way outlined, and representing as it would more than a century of not only the intellect and wisdom of the Federal Court: but of the learned jurists expounding the law from the Benches o! the Appellate Courts of every state in the Union, could not but place America in
the lead of the world in the field of Juris prudence, and enable her to exercise a more potent influence in World Councils.
"Those principles will in every case ulti mately determine the judgment to be pro nounced on any international dealings by that Court without appeal, unseen but not unfelt by men, that is always in session, truly named by Daniel Wesbter ‘the great tribunal of modern civilisation.’" He further declares :— “Public opinion has taken on a new form in recent years. There has arisen a public opinion of the world. It has come into being as the result of the closer and quicker commun~ ication between all lands, which is due to modern uses of steam and electricity, and to
pletely, thoroughly and accurately the American System of Law,—its Corpus juris, all as the result of the painstaking
the incidental extension of the power of the press. “If all nations were equally sensitive to this new force of world opinion, the problem would be a simpler one. But it is strongest
labors of the ablest members of the pro fession in America, both on the Bench and at the Bar, but particularly of those in the faculties of the Law Schools,
consideration, it is least needed. That Great Britain should fail to obey a judgment of the Hague Tribunal, or an award of arbitrators to which she was a party, is unthinkable."
The proposed work, in stating com
would not only tend to unify the judicial systems of the various American states, but it would strengthen our influence upon the
Judicial
systems
of other
nations and more rapidly bring theirs and our own into that ultimate harmony which is so much to be desired. At the present time it is well known that Ameri
can jurisprudence, by reason of there being no complete statement of it, does not and can not receive the attention from the jurists of other nations, which its
importance demands.’
where, as respects the subject now under
There can be no question but that we have in America all the brain-power necessary to create the work, proposed from time to time through now more than
a century of our existence; yet it is plain this brain-power could not be utilized effectively so as to produce by the united
eflort of many—of all who should have a part in it——a result which would be a "truly co-ordinated whole" unless organ ized in some such way as outlined herein. To make this possible, the thing that above all else would seem to be abso
Chief Justice Simeon E. Baldwin of Connecticut, former President of the
lutely essential, a sine qua non of the work
American Bar Association and of the
being executed on the broad lines it
International Law Association, and Pro fessor of Constitutional Law at Yale, has emphasized methods whereby “the moral support of the world (may) be
should, is an adequate Foundation of jurisprudence. Only in that way may so great an enterprise in the realm of Juris prudence be saved from the “ perils
fully gained," and in words which should
of
commercialism,”
present ‘See particularl views of Judge von Lewinski of Berlin, p. 96 in m.
baneful
with their ever
influences.
Without
such support the work which has made